32. Packers 45, Giants 17 (2010)

It was this simple for Green Bay: win out and go to the playoffs......lose one, and you are home for January. The Packers controlled their own destiny, but they had lost two in a row and Aaron Rodgers was coming back from a concussion suffered two weeks before in a loss to Detroit. Green Bay was coming off a heartbreaking loss in New England on Sunday Night Football with Matt Flynn at quarterback. Flynn drove the Packers down into the red zone, but he was sacked on the final play of the game. But as much as the Green Bay loss hurt, the loss for New York the week before hurt much, much more. The Packers were not expected to win, playing on the road against the best team in the league without your leader. The Giants, on the other hand, would have moved into first place in the NFC East with a win. New York had a 31-10 lead over Philadelphia with a little more than eight minutes to play in the game and Michael Vick led the Eagles back with three fourth quarter touchdowns to tie it up. With 14 seconds left, New York punter Matt Dodge kicked the ball to Philadelphia return man DeSean Jackson, who returned the punt 65 yards for the winning score as time expired. New York would never recover from that, and Green Bay smashed New York on its way to winning six consecutive games to win the Super Bowl.

On Green Bay’s second possession, the Packers wasted no time scoring the game’s first points. After a punt by Dodge to the Green Bay 20, Rodgers proved that he is completely back from his concussion. He found a wide open Jordy Nelson over the middle at the 40 and he ran untouched all the way for an 80-yard touchdown to give the Packers the 7-0 lead.

Tramon Williams would pick off Eli Manning on the next drive, which set up another Rodgers touchdown pass. This one to James Jones, and just like that, the home team led 14-0.

New York would fight back, scoring two straight touchdowns to tie the game up at 14. The first came on a pass from Manning to Packers killer Hakeem Nicks on a 36-yard connection and the Giants got on the board. The second came after a Nelson fumble in the red zone in which the G-Men recovered. The first play after the turnover, Manning found Mario Manningham down the sideline for 85 yards. Williams misplayed the ball in the air and Manningham grabbed it and ran the rest of the way for the score to tie the game at 14.

Greg Jennings would have two receptions for 37 yards on the next drive and the Packers were able to grab the lead back. Fan favorite John Kuhn would do the honors of giving Green Bay the lead back, scoring on an 8-yard run to give the Packers a 21-14 lead going into halftime.

The teams traded field goals to start the third quarter, but then it was all Packers after that. Rodgers had back-to-back completions of more than 30 yards to put the ball at the Giants 1, where Rodgers then connected with Donald Lee to give Green Bay a 31-17 lead.

Brandon Jacobs had a long run the following drive, but Clay Matthews punched the ball out and Nick Collins recovered. Sam Shields would get in on the action with an interception in the fourth quarter. Manning had four picks on the day. That would lead to another Kuhn touchdown and the game was all but over.

Nick Collins would pick off Manning on the next drive and another Rodgers to Nelson connection would set up Kuhn’s third touchdown of the day. Nelson and Jennings would combine to have 266 yards receiving, while Rodgers threw 404 yards and four touchdowns to prove that he was back.

This win catapulted the Packers, starting them on a run that would take them to a Super Bowl championship.